An unusual bureaucratic tangle is preventing a Jewish family in Argentina from making aliyah.
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For over a month, the Tarika family has been living out of boxes, with the Foreign Ministry and the Population and Immigration Authority deflecting responsibility.
The reason for the turmoil lies in the fact that Jonas Tarika's father, Alberto, immigrated to Israel with his family in 1974, but later returned to Argentina. His children, including Jonas, were all born and raised in Argentina.
When Jonas and his wife, Orit, finally wanted to make aliyah, they made an appointment with the Israeli consulate in Buenos Aires, where he had to receive an Israeli passport and be defined as an immigrant under the Law of Return.
That is when the trouble began: The clerk at the embassy told Jonas that she could not upload his data. The reason, she claimed, was that the system said that his father stayed in Israel between 1974 to 2015, although he returned years earlier, which is why Jonas could not be defined as an oleh chadash.
The fact that Jonas' parents and two brothers immigrated to Israel in 2022 made no difference, and it was impossible to issue Jonas a passport and allow him to make aliyah.
The issue persists for about a month now. Having contacted the Foreign Ministry, Jonas was told there was no solution and he had to hope that somehow the matter would resolve itself on its own.
While authorities agree that Jonas is entitled to make aliyah under the Law of Return, they have so far delayed and prevented him from arriving in Israel.
After involvement on behalf of Israel Hayom, the authorities said that Jonas was granted all the necessary documents. Jonas told Israel Hayom, however, that while he was indeed contacted on the matter, his ability to make aliyah is being delayed by weeks.
The Population and Immigration Authority said in a statement, "An examination of the request shows that this is a person entitled to making aliyah who applied for status at the Israeli consulate in Buenos Aires. The issue is being handled by the Foreign Ministry, and we will inform the embassy when there is an answer on his matter. He should be in contact with the Israeli embassy."
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